


Shattered Walls

by MintFlavoured



Category: Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, M/M, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 07:29:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5120114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintFlavoured/pseuds/MintFlavoured
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An entry for Soy's contest. Cid/Vincent established relationship.</p><p>A threatening situation arises that requires Cid's aid. A situation involving Vincent's demons...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shattered Walls

**Author's Note:**

> I just managed to get this done in time, but I regret having to cram it together in barely two days (couldn't find the time before, nooooooooooo). This is based on a concept I've had in the making for a long time, but will probably never be written fully. I decided to compress it into an entry for this contest.

 

 

   Dreams were not always easy to distinguish from reality. The brain could concoct such convincing visions it would sometimes essentially fool itself. Perhaps it depended on the wishes of the beholder, but this dream was not so deceptive. In this one, Cid knew he was dreaming.

   He inhaled, closing his eyes as the wind current carried the scent of ocean air past. Warm sun bathed his skin. He wasn’t flying, but he was high enough for it to almost seem so. Grass cushioned his bare feet as the soothing sounds of rolling waves crashed at the base of the cliff. He opened his eyes and skimmed them across the water, the beautiful blue sea. This was his favorite spot, the one he had been visiting since he was a boy. He could reach up and touch the clouds if he wanted.

   Nothing changed visibly. But something was different. Cid blinked, scanning the view before him before detecting the change behind him. He looked over his shoulder and frowned.

   “Vincent?” He turned fully.

   Vincent’s shocking red eyes lifted to meet his. They locked on with an unnerving intensity, and yet, at the same time, a troubling insecurity.

   Cid stared. Vincent had never been with him in this dream. This was new; especially considering this was a controlled dream. And Cid hadn’t brought him in. Not intentionally. Not with that look etched into those beautiful eyes.

   “I’m sorry,” Vincent whispered, his voice wavering in the short distance between them, as though the wind was trying to carry it away.

   Cid frowned deeper, blinking in confusion. This dream was solely for peace and tranquility, but the mood was turning, and he didn’t know why. “Sorry for what?” _Had_ he brought Vincent in here?

   Vincent’s lips parted, but he didn’t speak for a long moment. Something achingly seriously haunted his gaze, something deep and agonizing. It bled outward to his brow, twisting it in to display an expression Cid had never witnessed before. He felt a cold jolt through him, and he suddenly realized something was very wrong.

   “Vincent, what is it?”

   Those lips paused again. “I was so tired,” he finally breathed.

   Cid reached for him, but his hand passed straight through, startling the pilot. Vincent looked so real, so solid, even for a dream.

   “I was weak…”

   “Damnit, Vince, tell me what the hell’s wrong,” Cid demanded, a sense of urgency rising within him now.

   “Save them from me.”

   “Save wh-?”

   Before he could react, Vincent reached for him instead, and at the point of contact they both disappeared.

   Cid woke up. His phone was ringing on his nightstand. He groped for it automatically, mind spinning his recent dream over in his head. Reeve’s name was on his display.

   “What?” He answered.

   “Cid, get to my location _right now_ ,” Reeve responded immediately, his words curt and hurried. “There’s a village in the north of Cosmo Canyon, I need you here _ASAP._ ”

   “What the fuck’s goin’ on?” Cid questioned.

   “It’s _Vincent_.”

   Cid was out the door one minute later.

//

   Night had fallen by the time he crossed into the canyons, but even with limited visibility, even without his ship’s sophisticated sensors, Cid could have found Reeve without. All he needed to do was follow the path of destruction.

   “What the…?” 

A terrible feeling sunk into Cid’s stomach as he flew between the valleys. He couldn’t help but stare at the sheer amount of demolition of the canyon; something incredibly big or incredibly powerful had savaged it. Huge earthen debris littered the ground beneath the wounds, trailing further into the area until the night was pierced with the light of fires.

   Finally, the sight of the WRO came into view, lit up by their equipment and torches. Vehicle lights illuminated more mangled objects and rockslides. Cid set his plane down a distance from the organization, quickly killed the engine and hurried over, heart thumping so hard he thought they might hear it.

   “Cid,” Reeve quickly rushed to him, face taut with the gravity of the situation. A few WRO soldiers flanked him; large, non-standard guns in hand.

   “Reeve, what the fuck is goin’ on?” Cid demanded, eyes panning across the damage all around them, on the ground, on the walls of the canyons. He noticed the burning wreckage of a WRO vehicle. Suddenly his mouth was dry and something in the back of his mind was trying desperately to ignore his growing, horrible suspicion.

   Reeve’s eyes were severely weighted, his jaw tight. “I think you know.” He stated regretfully.

   Cid felt rage begin to boil. Reeve was wrong, he didn’t know. Why the fuck would he know what had happened? About to open his mouth and verbally abuse the man, Cid caught himself. His sense of reality was stronger than his foolish denial, and he realized this was not Reeve’s fault.

   “Where’s Vincent?” Cid managed, instead, voice deep as he strained to control his temper, his anger, his pending shock...

   It was at the moment Reeve’s communicator crackled to life from his hand. “Commissioner – target has changed course, Sir. He’s heading for the village.”

   “Evacuate it,” Reeve ordered at once. “Immediately.”

   “Sir. And, Sir? We’re going to need those tranqs… there’s an oil refinery here. And he’s still using fire.”

   For the first time, Cid heard Reeve curse. “Draw him away if you can, but no risks. Remember to notify me immediately if he changes again.”

   “Sir.”

   Reeve locked eyes with Cid. “We have to go.” And he tugged Cid hurriedly into a fast walk. “You’re our best weapon,” Reeve told him without an ounce of mirth. “In fact, you’re our _only_ weapon, Cid. Nothing else works, nothing will get through to him. He’s on a rampage, it – it’s like the beasts have taken control and they are going _wild_. I don’t know how to stop him.”

   Cid stared at him hard as they went. “Yer can’t shoot him.”

   Reeve’s jaw twitched. “I know. I can’t… I can’t risk him turning into Chaos.” He fixed Cid with a look that betrayed his fearless mask. “If he does…” He struggled to find the words, or maybe just couldn’t bear to hear them, for he closed his mouth and looked ahead.

   “How long has he been like this?” Cid asked, pressing his lips tight as they passed a small hill of crumbled cliff.

   “We’ve been following him for an hour, trying to communicate to him,” Reeve answered, signaling to a group of WRO soldiers to follow him and Cid. “Trying to talk to him. He doesn’t even recognize me. Or at least, Galian Beast didn’t…” Here he trailed off, eyeing Cid uncertainly. “Were they… were they individual creatures? Before? I… always thought they were merely manifestations without origins. But…” His brow twitched. “It’s like he’s just a mindless destructive animal now.”

   Cid studied his face with more care than usual. It was easier to deal with this situation if he focused on Reeve’s distress rather than his own. “They’re impressions. Ghosts of what they were.” He swallowed, recalling Vincent’s one elucidation long ago. “Ancient Last Ones that Hojo captured.”

   Reeve glanced at him sharply, but if he wanted to say anything he kept it quiet.

   Fire crackled and twisted, melting the framework of the mangled truck as they passed. The heat was so fierce it almost scorched them, but then, it was no ordinary fire. The vehicle sagged abruptly as its structure buckled.

   “Has anything like this ever happened before?” Reeve asked as they began climbing a high incline.

   Cid shook his head. “No.” After a few seconds he felt brown eyes on him, watching. “What?”

   Reeve’s expression was careful. “You’re taking this well.”

   Cid looked away, swallowing a string of obscenities. He wanted to shout, he wanted to exploded, to show Reeve how fucking ‘well’ he was taking it. But Cid was strangely in control of his temper, and it stumped him.

   “I should’a’ known,” he found himself murmuring.

   “What do you mean?”

   They reached the peak and slid down the other side. More evidence of damage littered the way around the winding canyon bed. Cid could hear engines thrumming in the distance. Transport crafts. The village was ahead.

   A monstrous roar pierced the night above the engines. Two seconds and it trailed off. Everyone stopped.

   “He’s still to the west of the village,” Reeve muttered.

   A heart-stopping burst of explosions caused everyone to jump instinctively, and from somewhere across the canyons a ball of smoldering magic fire swelled into the air, lighting up the dark night. Immediately following was the unmistakable sound of gunfire.

   “ _Shit_!” Cid glared, eyes darting to Reeve’s equally agitated face.

   “I said no gunfire!” Reeve bellowed into his communicator. “Cease fire! CEASE FIRE!”

   Cid was already running in the direction. He heard the WRO follow, but his attention was on the spot where the fireball was fading. Bullets continued to fire into the night, and with them the enraged snarls of Galian Beast. With Vincent in control, he could deflect major damage in that form, but if that monster is out of its mind it could very well end up with serious bullet wounds.

   More fire exploded upwards, accompanied by the cry of a male soldier. The gunfire stopped momentarily, but in a few seconds it continued. Cid’s heart was in his mouth.

   Something changed. The air shifted. In the instant following an entirely different snarl met Cid’s ears, and the crackle of deadly lightning filled the canyon. Two soldier’s cried out in terror. Behind, Cid could hear Reeve’s communicator informing him the target had shifted shape again.

   There was a mighty CRASH, and the sound of a vehicle bursting into broken shards drowned out the noise of lightning. What followed could only have been the cacophony of a cliff side crumbling in on itself, and the inevitable rock slide after. One of the soldier’s yelled something and gunfire lit up the night once more.

   “Fuck, fuck,” Cid chanted, legs becoming heavy as he hurled himself over and across uneven terrain. “Don’t change, don’t fuckin’ change.”

   But luck was against him.

   There was a pained, air-shaking scream, and then nothing. Cid skidded to a stop, heart hammering, blood pounding in his ears. He listened. Nothing.

   And then it came. That sound. The air displacement that announced the arrival of their worst possible outcome. And it’s snarl of battle.

   A red light split through the air, forcing Cid to shut his eyes against the brightness. The ground beneath him began to shake violently, and when he looked up the very walls of the canyons were coming down around him. As if in slow motion huge, house-sized chunks detached from the cliff above and hurtled down.

   “RUN!” He yelled at Reeve and his soldiers.

   It seemed like a surreal dream as they forced their legs into impossible speeds, pushing their gasping bodies harder as boulders shattered on the ground behind them, throwing debris at their retreating backs.

   Cid ran like he never had. Bits pelting his head and the back of his legs, but he didn’t dare look around. He wasn’t even sure which direction he was now fleeing to. Where was Vincent? Where was –

   “Cid!”

   Glancing over his shoulder he saw they had escaped the warzone. Their new part of the canyon had remained intact, but little pebbles sprinted and cascaded down around them, threatening something bigger if they stayed too long.

   “Wh – which direction is he? Where’s Vincent?” Cid whirled around, scanning their surrounding desperately.

   One of the female soldiers pointed. “Over there,” she panted harshly, looking at her handheld device.

   Cid took off again, his shaky legs powered by adrenaline. All that filled his mind was getting to Vincent; getting there before Chaos could cause even worse damage; getting there to calm him, to pull Vincent from his nightmare. To slap the stupid from the idiotwho had caused Chaos’ transformation.

   “Stupid, stupid, _stupid_ bastard!” Cid growled to himself. Didn’t the WRO have knowledge on Chaos? Shouldn’t they have known that, yes, Vincent COULD be fucking killed, but Chaos would emerge? Who the FUCK had shot his Vincent?!

   He hadn’t realized he was so close until he skidded around a corner to a stop.

   There was a soldier on his knees, mouth agape, eyes as wide as they could possibly be. And in the second it took for Cid’s brain to process, tendrils of green light unraveled from the soldier’s body, drawn as one to the imposing creature stood before him.

   “STOP!” Cid gasped.

   His sudden noise drew the attention of those glowing, golden eyes. They flittered across him as his clawed hand lowered, and the strings of life being withdrew back into the soldier. He collapsed.

   Cid stared, breathing heavily, head throbbing. For a strange moment nothing happened. Silence fell between them, and for the second time since knowing Vincent, Cid got a good look at the monster that resided within him.

   The quiet air was disturbed as Reeve and his team surged around the corner and into view, halting almost immediately. Chaos’ attention refocused onto them, and a growl rose from his throat. He barred his fangs and coiled, wings snapping out.

   “No!” Cid stepped in the way, regaining Chaos’ gaze. “Reeve, get the fuck outta here,” he said over his shoulder, unable to tear his eyes away from the demi-Weapon. “Go _now_!” He heard the scuttle of their carefully hurried footsteps. When he was sure they were out of immediate danger, Cid began to move slowly, drawing Chaos’ attention away from the soldier on the ground until it was just the two of them and nothing in-between.

   Chaos’ eyes watched him carefully, intently; a look that gave Cid chills. The creature was usually calm, uncharacteristically tame. It seemed so captivated by Cid that its destructive nature had paused.

   “Vincen – ” Cid stopped. He realized Vincent’s consciousness wouldn’t be aware. He wouldn’t hear him. “Chaos,” Cid tried instead. “Yer recognize me, eh? Yeah?”

   Chaos said and did nothing in response. Cid wasn’t even sure this monster could speak. None of the other Weapons could. However, it seemed to sway very subtly with every little movement Cid made, as though following him like a snake might track its prey. Cid didn’t like the sound of that, but then, it hadn’t made any aggressive move towards him, nor had it that first day on the Junon Canon after Hojo’s defeat. Maybe Vincent’s experiences carried across their consciousness.

   “I need yer to change back,” Cid began, his voice hoarse, level. “I need yer to give me back Vincent… Do yer understand me?”

   Nothing indicated that it did, but it seemed to latch onto Cid’s voice, as though it found the sound of vocal cords a curiosity. Perhaps, more accurately, _Cid’s_ vocal cords, Cid’s voice.

   Cid didn’t even know if it could change back yet. Did Vincent’s body, or consciousness, have to heal before the change could happen? Was Vincent still essentially dead, and right now Chaos was restoring him? So many mysteries, so many questions, so much they didn’t know about something so dangerous.

   It was then Cid finally remembered the light in Chaos’ chest. The Protomateria. Before when Cid had first touched it, Chaos reverted back to Vincent. Can the same thing happen again, in this situation? The pilot began to edge forward, slow closing the distance between them. Chaos’ head tilted at his actions, and to Cid’s surprise it started to step closer, too.

   “Okay,” Cid said, more to himself, lame words of encouragement. He lifted a hand out to the glowing materia. “Don’t bite my hand off,” he requested quietly.

“Get away from that monster!”

   Startled, Cid’s eyes snapped to the intruder approaching. From his left he only just noticed the village, parts of which were smoking, and from it had come a man, storming towards them with a shotgun in hand. It was aimed at Chaos.

   “What the fuck are you _doin_ ’?!” Cid yelled. “Run away!”

   Chaos turned and hissed, fangs exposed, talons flexed. His wings snapped out in front of Cid.

   “This monster destroyed my home!” The man thundered. In the next instance the shocking BANG of the shotgun fire ripped into Chaos – but it did nothing. Chaos surged upon the man, ignoring the bullets as if they were nothing but flies. Realizing too late, the stranger screamed.

   “NO!” Cid dashed for them both. Behind, he could hear Reeve.

   They were all too later. Chaos’ clawed hand wrapped around the man’s face and hoisted him from his feet. A second later he was gone. Broken down into strings of Lifestream.

   Dead.

  Cid raced to the demi-Weapon as it began to turn its hungry gaze on Reeve. Before it could reach out for him, Cid latched onto the creature’s armor and planted his hand over the Protomateria.

   The light beneath his hand increased, so bright he was forced to close his eyes. Chaos released a soft growl before the solid muscle beneath Cid’s palm disappeared, and so did the light. The world rushed past and Cid found himself on the ground with an unconscious Vincent in his arms.

   It took a second for the situation to process. Cid stared at his partner, but found his eyes straying over to where the shotgun lay on the dirt. Alone. He would deal with that later. Right now, he ignored the sounds of Reeve calling him, curled his arms around Vincent tighter and pulled him close, burying his face in the long black hair.

   He had his Vincent back.

//

   The medical wing of the WRO headquarters was quiet during the early hours of the morning. The sun was not due to rise for a while, and most of the soldiers who had dealt with the crisis had been relieved for the night. For some, there was no such rest.

   Cid stood silently in the observation room, watching over his lover through the viewing glass into his room. He never liked seeing Vincent in any form of vulnerability, it reminded him too much of his horrific ordeal with Hojo. Even in the safety and non-threatening surroundings of the WRO infirmary he didn’t belong. It didn’t help that, for security, Vincent had been restrained with wrist straps and a drip feed of specially formulated sedatives. Despite Cid arguing that they would do fuck all if Vincent transformed again, the doctor had refused to back down. He was terrified of Vincent. The entire WRO was.

   Cid saw Reeve’s reflection in the glass as the commissioner stood by his side. Neither said nothing for a few minutes, watching their friend slumber in the white sheets of the infirmary bed, his dark hair fanned behind his head. Hopefully unaware.

   “The doctor’s done a full examination,” Reeve broke the air. “There was excessive strain on many parts of his brain. But one isolated area in particular, a part that _we_ , normal humans, don’t have.”

   Cid found his eyes straying to Reeve’s, questioningly.

   “Without extensive tests studies, we can only guess what these unique sections are.”

   “No one is doin’ anymore _tests_ on him,” Cid growled lowly, a tone that edged on the side of dangerous.

   “No,” Reeve agreed. “We won’t. However, we’ve concluded this discovery to be the part that controls his shapeshifting, or deals directly with his transformations and their aspects.”

   “Yer said ‘strain’.” Cid bluntly redirected him back for answers.

   “The doctor believes Vincent’s demons had been pushing at his walls for some time now,” the commission explained, turning his brown eyes back to the sleeping gunman. “I think they just… wore him down.”

   Something jolted within Cid.

   _“I was so tired.”_

   Cid’s lips parted, eyes focused hard on his partner. “Wore him down?”

   In the glass, Reeve nodded. “We think so. If those demons have their own consciousness, as you say, it is very possibly they can damage Vincent’s psyche over time. These are ancient creatures… inside the mind of single man. I cannot imagine the experience…”

   _“I was weak…”_

   “And now?” Cid asked without taking his eyes from the sleeping man.

   “The activity is Vincent’s brain was, in the doctor’s words, in complete pandemonium. The electrical impulses were nothing he had ever seen before, but during Vincent’s admittance they have receded quite significantly. He suspects Vincent’s mental walls are repairing themselves, or something of the like.” Reeve paused. “Hopefully he will be in complete control when we wake him, and perhaps he will shed some light on all of this…”

   “I should’a’ known somethin’ was wrong…”

   “What do you mean?” Reeve asked.

   Cid paused a beat. “When he left a couple’a’ weeks ago, he had been havin’ headaches.”

   “You couldn’t have known.”

   Cid shook his head. “Vince rarely gets headaches. I should’a’ asked him about it.”

   “Cid, you can’t play the blame game,” Reeve reasoned. “It will get us nowhere, and it will do no good.”

   The pilot said nothing. They fell into silence again for several long minutes. Both were bone tired, both wanted nothing more than to disappear under the covers of their beds, but neither would sleep. After what seemed like ages, the hush broke.

   “We don’t tell him,” Cid stated firmly.

   Reeve knew immediately what he meant. He watched the rise and fall of Vincent’s chest, contemplating Cid’s resolved decision. “His name was Akio Nishimura.” He paused, feeling cold. “I only know because his family came to my men to ask. Two children and a wife, worried sick.” Reeve swallowed audibly. “…He was protecting his family.”

   “I don’t give a _shit_ ,” Cid hissed harshly. “We don’t tell him. It wasn’t Vincent in control, but he’ll blame himself. And he doesn’t _need_ that. _Not ever_.”

   Reeve looked across at him sadly. “I’ve already informed the WRO members who witnessed it. Vincent won’t know.”

   Cid nodded stiffly. “Good.”

   “I tried so hard to make sure there were no fatalities…”

   They were quiet once again, thoughts whirling, flashbacks replaying. Cid’s dream was on constant, chilling replay until Reeve shifted away from the window.

   “The doctor will be waking him tomorrow morning, if predicted estimates are correct. His brain activity should be relatively calm.” The commissioner hesitated, his gaze now on Cid. “Get some sleep. If he sees your exhaustive state it will only concern him further.”

   Cid merely huffed.

   Reeve’s lips twitched. “Goodnight, Cid.” He gave one last glance at Vincent before he turned and walked away.

   After a few minutes more, Cid stepped into the infirmary room, closing the door behind. He lowered himself into the single chair by Vincent’s bed and reached out to brush a strand of hair from the gunman’s forehead. He looked almost peaceful.

   “Why didn’t yer tell me?” Cid murmured, stroking Vincent’s cheekbone. “Damnit, Vince… what were yer goin’ through?”

   Of course he received no answer, but he would get one soon. He would make Vincent promise him something; promise Cid that he would confide in him, would trust him with his dilemmas, his issues, _everything_.

   “No last minute dream shit, okay?” Cid whispered. He pressed a kiss on the man’s brow, shuffled down in his chair seat, angled his body towards his lover, and watched him a few seconds longer.

   He fell asleep shortly after.

 

 


End file.
